rebar wrote:working on it wrote:If I ever "hacked" a 5k window unit, I would use a large rectangular shroud covering the entire front of the unit (with a divider separating the intake from exhaust), connected to the trailer via a short rubber accordion boot/truck camper pass-thru gasket. The A/C unit would sit above ground level on a side-table secured as usual, so it wouldn't fall, and the exhaust and chassis cooling would be left to nature, not having to flow thru too small flex hoses. Just an easier solution to hoses. I wish I hadn't done my complicated exhaust duct, but instead, just use a short accordion boot to vent out mu closed hatch...I've thought about this easy-out method for awhile, now.[*][/list]
Thanks. Here's another idea for your accordion boot seal.
The evaporator squirrel cage moves the cooled air upward, and then forces it around a tight 90 degree internal elbow to the front grill. In order to allow even more cfm to be moved, why not blank off the internal elbow, and cut a rectangular hole in the top of the window shaker? This would allow more cfm because we have omitted a inefficient short sweet elbow .. Then use your accordion boot rectangular "duct" to connect the new cold air supply hole on top, through the trailer floor to a plenum inside the trailer? Or a rectangle to round "boot" if you dont have enough room under the trailer.
Regular flexible Return duct is fine. Its the supply air that needs a easy slippery path, and with the above design, if you looked down the trailer supply plenum you would see the squirrel cage blower. Cant get much better than that and not have to worry about any other support booster fans.
Window shakers were never designed to be mounted inside anything other than a window, and will run hotter with shorter lifespan if not supplied enough fresh condenser air. From what I remember, the beauty of a window shaker design is that it uses one motor to move evaporator air and condenser air.
- The accordion boot seal is just meant to totally remove the right-angle vent register boot/ducting from the equation. It will be a straight connection to the hatch vent (not installed, nor needed, until a window unit replacement makes the conversion worthwhile!), so the unit can still run with a closed hatch. If operated while the hatch is raised, the accordion will point the exhaust straight back (making standing there quite hot), still far away from being a source of contamination for the condenser/chassis cooling air, which will still be drawn-in thru a side vent, pulled thru by the case fan. This way, I'll only have to install a shutter/directional vent on the hatch door, and no holes on top or bottom of the trailer. Simple. No hoses, ducts, or extra lines to mess with, and I'll free up much-needed room in the galley.
- I have no worries about the hot exhaust mixing with the required cooler air needed for the chassis cooling; a regular home window unit has no such barrier (like my sealed ducting, accordion boot extension, or sidewall-vent ambient air cooling intake), but draws in whatever temperature air is nearby; in my experience, the window units are drawing in their own exhaust in the still, stagnant, hot summer air (100-110 degrees, usually, in the Texas sun), and live many years doing so. I've only had one A/C window unit fail (except for 1 punctured coil, and 1 with a bad fan bearing) over 60+ years of dealing with them, under those conditions. That unit, an old Fedders from 1960?, that ran night and day in my bedroom, from May 1st to mid-late October, and finally wore out, shortly after I left home following HS graduation (1969-70). It wasn't thermostatically controlled, had only Hi-Lo outputs, and just plain worked itself to death. It sat in a tight space between two homes, mostly blocked from any breeze...the only air it had nearby was already heated by the exhaust. Almost 20 years of constant 1/2 year usage, seems like a long life to me. P.S. It was a window unit, mounted thru a wall, so I could still have a view...of the neighbor's garage wall.